Anniversaries 18 May

Birth

Omar Khayyám94

Persian poet, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer 1048–1131

Roger Joseph Boscovich5

Croat-Italian physicist 1711–1787

Andrew Ure14

Scottish doctor and chemist 1778–1857

Martin Harris2

Book of Mormon witness 1783–1875

John Wilson2

Scottish advocate, literary critic and author (1785-1854) 1785–1854

Colin Blackburn, Baron Blackburn8

British judge 1813–1896

Mikhail Bakunin63

Russian revolutionary, philosopher, and theorist of collect… 1814–1876

Oliver Heaviside8

electrical engineer, mathematician and physicist 1850–1925

Isaac Leib Peretz61

Yiddish language author and playwright 1852–1915

Yane Sandanski9

Bulgarian revolutionary 1872–1915

Bertrand Russell562

logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970

Walter Gropius5

German architect (1883-1969) and founder of the Bauhaus Sch… 1883–1969

Ture Nerman7

Swedish socialist 1886–1969

Rudolf Carnap21

German philosopher 1891–1970

Augusto Sandino1

Nicaraguan revolutionary 1895–1934

Brock Chisholm3

Doctor and soldier 1896–1971

Frank Capra2

Sicilian-born American film director 1897–1991

Shunryu Suzuki39

Japanese Buddhist missionary 1904–1971

Fred Perry2

English tennis player 1909–1995

Charles Trenet3

French singer-songwriter 1913–2001

Nicolás Gómez Dávila20

Colombian writer and philosopher 1913–1994

Margot Fonteyn6

English ballerina 1919–1991

Pope John Paul II64

264th Pope of the Catholic Church, saint 1920–2005

Anthony Storr5

English psychiatrist 1920–2001

Patrick Dennis2

Novelist 1921–1976

Justus Dahinden6

Swiss architect 1925

Sara Shane1

American actress 1928–2022

Mike Zwerin1

American jazz musician 1930–2010

H. D. Deve Gowda14

Indian politician 1933

John Adair1

Author, theorist 1934

Robert Todd Carroll4

American philosopher 1945–2016

Frank Hsieh1

Taiwanese politician 1946

Reggie Jackson3

American professional baseball player, outfielder, coach 1946

Rick Wakeman1

English keyboardist, songwriter, television and radio prese… 1949

Diane Duane13

American author 1952

George Strait1

American country music singer, actor and music producer 1952

Chow Yun-fat1

Hong Kong actor 1955

Philip Arnold Subira Anyolo1

Kenyan Roman Catholic archbishop 1956

Lionel Shriver34

American writer 1957

Michael Cretu2

musician 1957

Jonathan Maberry27

writer 1958

Debbie Dadey2

American children's writer 1959

Nathaniel Parker1

British actor 1962

Tim Moore3

British travel writer and humorist 1964

Andrés Montoya2

American writer 1968–1999

Shelley Lubben2

author, singer, motivational speaker, and former pornograph… 1968–2019

Sean Sellers15

American murderer 1969–1999

Delcy Rodríguez1

Venezuelan politician and lawyer 1969

Tina Fey50

American comedian, writer, producer and actress 1970

Jack Johnson (musician)36

American musician 1975

Karen Lamb1

British tennis player 1982

Vince Young1

American college football player, professional football pla… 1983

Alexandria Villaseñor1

American climate activist 2005

Death

Pierre Beaumarchais11

French playwright diplomat and polymath 1732–1799

George Meredith45

British novelist and poet of the Victorian era 1828–1909

Gustav Mahler5

late-Romantic Austrian composer 1860–1911

Werner Sombart1

German economist, sociologist, historian 1863–1941

Bill Haywood8

Labor organizer 1869–1928

James Truslow Adams5

American writer and historian 1878–1949

Apsley Cherry-Garrard3

British explorer 1886–1959

Elmer Davis2

American politician 1890–1958

Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis7

Dutch historian 1892–1965

William Saroyan190

American writer 1908–1981

Henri Laborit1

French physician, writer and philosopher 1914–1995

K. Pattabhi Jois3

Indian yoga teacher 1915–2009

Jacque Fresco52

American futurist and self-described social engineer 1916–2017

Gilbert Sorrentino1

American writer 1929–2006

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes5

French Physicist 1932–2007

Hedley Bull1

Australian academic 1932–1985

Roger Ailes4

Television executive 1940–2017

General Baker1

1941–2014

Ian Curtis1

musician and songwriter 1956–1980

Chris Cornell71

American singer-songwriter, musician 1964–2017